Panda Platinum 2006 Internet Security

Easy to use. TruPrevent protection foils zero-day threats. Blocked installation of all our test spyware and removed all but one from infested systems.

Cons
Ineffective antispam. Web filter accounts not tied to Windows accounts but still require Windows log-off to change. No ability to time-limit accounts.

Bottom Line

Panda Platinum does some things very well (virus protection), other things quite well (spyware protection), and still other things poorly (spam blocking). It will do a decent job of keeping your PC safe, but you'll want to use another solution for spameven Outlook's built-in spam solution is better.

Panda's 2006 model hides most of its power under the hood. To keep things simple, the main window just shows your PC's security status and links to areas that let you update definitions, scan for trouble, change settings, and get more details. Underneath, though, the suite offers varying levels of protection against viruses, spyware, identity theft, and spam, along with Web-content filtering and a personal firewall. Initially the program displays a plethora of pop-ups announcing updates, reporting its own health, and offering informational bulletins, but fortunately you can turn these off.

The software uses signature-based scanning to find known threats. Panda's TruPrevent technology attempts to detect threats too new to have a signature. TruPrevent uses "genetic heuristic" scanning to find code that will cause malicious behavior. Files received via e-mail or instant messages are scanned by default. You can extend this scanning to all files, though possibly at the expense of performance. TruPrevent also monitors all running processes and stops any that attempt malicious activity. In recent tests, TruPrevent proved quite effective at blocking zero-day threats.

The antivirus scans files for viruses and spyware on access, on demand, and on schedule. A full scan on a clean test system took about 14 minutes. On finding a threat, the utility can pop up a warning, send an e-mail, or put out a network message. You can schedule multiple scans with different settings at intervals from hours to years. A manual scan of the entire system takes just two clicks. Known viruses are deleted and infected files disinfected by default. Suspicious files go into quarantine, from which you can restore them, delete them, or submit them to Panda for analysis.

West Coast Labs and ICSA have certified Panda's antivirus technology for virus detection and removal. The technology also received WCL's Trojan checkmark and the relatively new spyware checkmark. (Panda does not participate in Virus Bulletin's VB100% testing.)

We tested the product's ability to remove spyware from infested test systems and to prevent installation on a clean system. It detected every one of our eleven sample threats, successfully removed all but one, and prevented all of the samples from installing on a clean system. But it completely missed three of four commercial keyloggers. It prevented the fourth from logging keystrokes, but not from recording other behaviors. The software offers the typical protections against IE home page and search page hijacking, but also protects over a dozen other essential URLs.

The firewall specifically reported Web-based port scan tests as port scan attacks. We expected to see all significant ports stealthed (hidden from hackers), but one test showed port 445 (used in File and Printer Sharing) left open. The firewall automatically configures about a hundred known programs for Internet accessother programs will trigger a confirmation pop-up on their first access attempt.

The firewall does not attempt to block leak-test techniques such as injecting code into a running process. It did flag over half of our leak tests as dangerous the moment they were downloaded, though. Attempts to disable the firewall by direct attack, as malware might do, failed to either turn off its essential services or terminate its processes using Task Manager. The firewall can create a new security profile on detecting a new network connection and can also report Wi-Fi intrusions.

The Mailshell-based antispam module filters POP3 e-mail for any e-mail client but integrates specifically with Microsoft Outlook. For Outlook and Outlook Express it automatically puts spam in the Spam folderfor other clients you must manually create rules. But even in Outlook we had to manually define a rule to send mail marked as [PHISHING] or [HOAX] into the Spam folder.

Mail from those on the trusted senders list will always get through. There is no corresponding list of always-blocked senders, though. The content filter improves its accuracy by analyzing outgoing mail, and Outlook users can also train the filter by clicking toolbar buttons to correct misfiled messages, optionally adding non-spam senders to the trusted list.

We trained the filter on 500 messages from two real-world spam-infested accounts, then cleared all messages and let the account accumulate another 1,500 messages. Unlike McAfee's filter, Panda's didn't noticeably slow the mail download process. After discarding virus-infested messages and others that weren't undeniably spam or undeniably valid, we analyzed the results. The antispam tool allowed more than half of the undeniable spam through, but still marked about 3 percent of valid mail as spam. With that much spam missed we would expect no false positives. Outlook's own Junk E-mail filter can do better.

Web content filtering, based on Cobion's technology, is not installed by default, probably because it requires an extra log-on step. For each user, you can select one of four predefined filters or devise your own filter to block sites matching 15 major categories or over 50 subcategories. You can also whitelist or blacklist individual sites.

Although Web content user accounts aren't tied to Windows log-on accounts, you must log off Windows to switch accounts. A privacy protection module lets you register specific confidential information in a number of categories such as password, PIN, or credit card number, along with a description. You can't read or edit the data once enteredonly the descriptions are visible. If a process attempts to transmit private data, you'll get a warning. Unlike with many similar products, this feature does not prevent you from entering the confidential data in a Web form or sending it via IM. It does, however, warn you if the data goes out via e-mail.

Panda Platinum's antivirus uses signatures to blast known threats and its TruPrevent technology catches zero-day threats using heuristic and behavioral analysis. Its firewall is decent, and it did a good job of removing and blocking spyware. However, it's not a complete package. You'll want to use another solution for spameven Outlook's built-in is better.

Automatic Renewal Program: Your subscription will continue without interruption for as long as you wish, unless
you instruct us otherwise. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of the term unless you authorize
cancellation. Each year, you'll receive a notice and you authorize that your credit/debit card will be charged the
annual subscription rate(s). You may cancel at any time during your subscription and receive a full refund on all
unsent issues. If your credit/debit card or other billing method can not be charged, we will bill you directly instead. Contact Customer Service